PostED ON 17.10.2024

The dreamlike masterpiece by Carl Theodor Dreyer has regained all its melodic mystery thanks to the restoration work of Timothy Brock, conductor of the National Orchestra of Lyon. 

Vampyr by Carl Theodor Dreyer (1932) © Collection BIFI

Why did you choose to work on Vampyr?
Vampyr was shot as a silent film before it was turned into a sound flick in 1932. But when I saw the picture for the first time, the technology didn't allow us to separate the music and the dialogue, even though the latter is minimal... This technology became available later. We are going to perform the music of a ‘silent movie with dialogue’. Wolfgang Zeller's score is an incredible masterpiece. This composer spans a long period, from the 1920s to the 1950s.

How would you describe the music of Vampyr ?
L’objectif est d’attirer le public jusque dans cette espèce de cauchemar que la musique reflète profondément. Like a dream in the middle of the night. It was shot through a sort of filter, which gives it a rather hazy feel. The music is very beautiful, intense and intimate, sensual... It's both dark and wild. The aim is to draw the audience into this sort of nightmare that the music profoundly reflects.

You also updated the sheet music itself. What does this work involve?
Regarding the music for Vampyr, there was sheet music and a recording dating from 1930. When I listened to it, I realised that the musicians of the era didn't play it exactly as it was written, so I had to make some changes based on what I saw in the film.

Interviewed by Fanny Bellocq

Film-concert at the Auditorium of Lyon

Vampyr  by Carl Theodor Dreyer (1932)
Accompanied by the National Orchestra of Lyon

CC Auditorium Thu 17 8pm